Posted!

Join the Conversation

Approvals smooth path for new Methodist church building in Ruidoso

Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News
Published 4:52 p.m. MT Oct. 6, 2015

Old building being torn down for more modern and energy efficient version

The aging chapel of Community United Methodist Church will be torn down, but many items will be preserved and reused, a church member said. In back is the youth community warehouse building where services now are conducted.(Photo: Dianne Stallings/Ruidoso News)

Story Highlights

A conditional use permit and a variance were granted Tuesday to allow Community United Methodist Church officials and congregation to build a new chapel in place of an existing building between Church Street and Junction Road in Ruidoso.

Steve Rabourn, who is on the church building committee, said an engineer examined the old chapel and told church officials the structure was not safe and they needed to vacate.

"In late summer of 2014, we moved out to the Warehouse Community Youth Center that was built about 10 years ago to help service the Ruidoso youth in our community," he said. "So we don't want to stay there permanently, because it was built for youth and community functions. We decided we needed to take the (chapel) down and build a new building. We're not doing anything differently there, but we want to build a modern, energy efficient, mostly fireproof building that will accommodate our congregational meetings."

Members of the Ruidoso Planning and Zoning Commission approved a variance to setback requirements to allow construction of a larger church sanctuary. The old sanctuary was built in 1946-1947 and is failing structurally, does not have the needed seating and the entrance and exits do not meet existing codes, according to the application.

Commissioners also approved a conditional use for a church in a residential zone. The existing building in the Palmer Gateway Subdivision area of Ruidoso off Sudderth Drive is surrounded by churches, a bank, a building where services and events are conducted and a residential area to the south. The church lot also is zoned single-family residential and because the old church will be torn down and another church built, required a conditional use for that new building.

The variance will allow construction of a new 60-foot by 125-foot chapel for a total of 7,500 square feet to replace the existing 2,640 square foot chapel at 220 Junction Road.

Because churches, civic and institutional uses are considered conditional uses in the R-1 zoning district, additional setback requirements of 50 feet on each side of a structure are imposed beyond the conventional limits for permitted residential uses, Ruidoso Planning Administrator Bradford Dyjak told commissioners.

The applicant asked for reductions to 30 feet from the minimum 50 feet on the front yard setback and 29.95 feet from the minimum at the back.

Dyjak noted that under village code in R-1, single-family residential, "if a building is to be built where there is an established average setback different from that required to this section and there are existing buildings on one side only, the front setback of the new building need be no greater than that of the next adjoining existing building."

Approval of a variance required a two-thirds majority of the board. Both motions were approved unanimously following the recommendations and conditions of staff and to the applause of church members in the audience.

Member Maury St. John, a church member and former Lincoln County commissioner, said the chapel's stained glass windows, pews and the bell tower will be stored until they can be used again.

"We're going to preserve as much as possible," she told a neighbor, who testified she hoped the old building wouldn't be torn down and tossed on a garbage heap.

Dyjak said the lot contains 1.06 acres and that the use is consistent with the character of the neighborhood. No negative impact was noted.

"The use is not changing, but the proposed structure will," Dyjak said. Daycare and administrative offices will continue there, he said.

Staff found that 23 onsite parking spaces and 59 adjacent satellite spaces represented sufficient parking, he said. A final site plan must be submitted to the building division.

No one spoke in opposition. Commissioner Jon Tondino offered the motion for the conditional use permit and Commissioner Marianne Mohr for the setback variance.